While Sherman Bell most certainly did not "discover" the fact that long shells can be fired safely in short chambers, he does get credit--as noted above--for doing actual experiments and providing the resulting pressure and velocity data. Some of us here, for quite a few years, harkened back to what Burrard, Thomas, or Arthur Curtis in the American gun industry had written on the same subject, going back to pre-WWII days in a couple cases, and would point out the facts of the matter. But since the Bell articles, there are far few "disbelievers". Just as there are now far fewer "disbelievers" where Damascus is concerned.
As for Boddington using his rank, it is perfectly permissible for a retired officer to do so. I do so on occasion, but mostly when I'm writing on things military. Almost never in my outdoor writing. That being said, there's a pretty long history of gun writers who have used their military rank: people with familiar names like Askins, Whelen, Curtis, Brophy, etc. So while I do not do as Boddington does, I certainly do not fault him for it.
RWTF, a military officer retires at the highest rank he's held, unless the rank was a "temporary" or "brevet" one, which occasionally occurs in wartime--but that was mostly in the past, doesn't happen very often these days. Cooper may have been selected for BG, but he would have retired as a BG had the promotion ever been officially made. Interestingly, I've known some officers who have "run out of time" (a mandatory removal date) as a commissioned officer, but who continued to serve in a prior enlisted rank, or as a warrant officer. But when they retire, it is at their highest rank. (And more importantly, perhaps, their pension is based on their highest rank!)
